St. Paul daily globe. [volume] (Saint Paul, Minn.) 1884-1896, 1887-10-04
Judge Weleh. a Prominent
Attorney, Indicted for
Criminal Libel.
Postmaster General Villas At
i
tackled by Him in a Little .
Family Pamphlet, .
l.
And Accused Of Fraud and
EmbeZzlement While at
Madison, Wis.
The Paper Sent to the Presi-
dent---Vilas Has WEIGH
Indicted.

When the well-knOwn form of Will.
lam Welch, of Welch, Botkin & Welch,
criminal lawyers, doomed up in the
district court room yesterday, there was
a decided sensation among the specta-
tors, as it had been rumored that the
grand jury had found an Indictment
against him. Mr.. Welch walked slowly
up to the bar, where he had defended
many criminal, and listened most at
tentively while the clerk read eight in
dictmentS, all charging him with GRIM
inally libelling Postmaster General
Villas and number of other gentlemen
through the columns of little sheet
called The Home Diary. Mr.. Welch's
face took on grave look as each indict-
ment was read, but otherwise he re-
tanned his cOmpOSure and pleaded not
guilty. He was placed under $500 bonds
in each case, and will appear for trial
Oct. &c. Before Mr.. Welch left
the bar County Attorney Davis
moved that the court request Mr.
Welch to furnish bill of par
ticulars of his defense. The court h, ard
the motion, and set it for argument on
Saturday next. The parties alleged to
be libeled were connected with certain
insurance and railroad enterprises in
Madison, Wis, while Mr.. Welch resided
there, and he felt that he was not being
treated fairly by the gentlemen. Since
his removal here he has published this
Home Diary, paper about 4X6
inches, enthusiastically, and in it
he vigorously denounced Mr.. Villas
and the other gentlemen, and
even went so far as to send marked
copies to the president. These attacks
ln1,f
neapOliS business men, but no one for
moment supposed that Mr.. Welch was
opening the way for criminal libel. Now
that the crash has come there will prob
ably be full investigation into the
charges, as Mr.. Villas is reported as
saying that he desires no further
political advancement until the
charges made are proved false.
The alleged libellOus articles, all pub
liShed in The Home Diary of Dec. 4, 1886,
charge Mr.. Villas and other gentlemen,
some of whom are now dead, with de-
cidedly crooked transactions. No. is
directed at Mr.. Villas, and is as follows:
The reasons which impel us to pub
fish the structures which are to appear
in this journal upon the public and Off
cial character of William L. Villas, the,
postmaster general of the United States.
and an officer in the cabinet of the pres
ident may be summarized as follows: :.
Because in the suit brought by Seth Barrett
against the Madison insurance company to
compel an accounting. Villas, who appeared
therein as attorney for the company, bought
the plaintiff off, and because all the original
papers i'll that action have been surrepti-
tiously taken from the files, the said Villas re-
fusing to give information as to their where
abouts after request in writing addressed to
him at Washington in his character as attor-
ney in that action.
The second Indictment charges Mr..
WEIGH with libeling Mr.. Villas and
others, as follows; %
1t is reasonably to be believed that David
secretary, William F. Villas, Philip Fox,
Timothy Brown. Andrew Proudtt and
William Dudley, officers and directors of the
Madison Fire Insurance company, took OF
the assets of the predecessors of that com
pany, j. e., the Madison Mutual, a sum of
money equal to at least $175 900, and which
they used in lining their own pockets and in
purchasing immunity from exposure and
punishment.
The third Indictment is substantially
the same.
The fourth charges Mr.. Welch with
accusing Mr.. Villas and others, and the
Northwestern railroad of defrauding
the city of Madison of $500.
In the fifth Indictment Mr.. Welch is
charged with accusing Mr.. Villas of de-
strOying and rendering inSOlvent an in
surance company, and of dividing the
surplus assets with the directors, who
had signed bogus security. The other
three indictments are repititions of the
fifth, only in different form.